By Kiersten Bushbaker and Joel Batterman
Most people don’t think about rural and “exurban” areas when it comes to public transit. But transportation needs don’t disappear in lower-density communities, and rural transit is an important issue. Major increases in ridership at Oakland County’s rural transit agencies over the past few years show that “if you build it, they will come.”
Rural Transit in Oakland County
The less urbanized areas of Oakland County are served by a variety of small transit agencies providing “dial-a-ride” services. They include the Rochester Older Persons’ Commission, People’s Express (PEX), West Oakland Transportation Authority (WOTA), and North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA).
Following the passage of Oakland County’s 2022 countywide transit millage, these agencies were able to greatly expand their operations by hiring additional drivers and increasing their vehicle fleets. As a result, they now serve many more residents, covering larger areas and offering longer hours and additional days of service.
The North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA), which serves Oxford, Orion, Addison, and Brandon Townships, has seen enormous ridership growth since the 2024 service expansion. Ridership has roughly tripled from pre-pandemic levels, and continues on an upward trend. Additionally, each agency was able to serve more hours and more destinations, and decrease the time riders had from booking a ride to getting their ride. Prior to expansion, many dial-a-ride agencies required you to book a ride up to a week out. Now, this is 1 to 3 days (depending on the agency).
What if Wayne County could have rural transit like this?
TRU believes that the success of rural transit in Oakland County can be echoed in outlying areas of Wayne County if County voters opt to approve a county-wide transit tax proposal in the August 2026 election.
While most of Wayne County is highly urbanized, and suitable for fixed-route bus service, the more sparsely populated southwest corner of the county, including places like Sumpter and Huron Township, would benefit from expanded demand-response services, like SMART’s paratransit and Uber-like Flex services.
Currently, Huron Township only offers transit services to senior residents on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Sumpter Township only offers transit to seniors Mondays-Thursdays, 9 am to 1 pm. In Oakland county, after the millage, these senior transit services were able to provide service on more days of the week, across longer hours (including into the evening and early morning!), and open up service to any resident regardless of age. When older people in these townships can no longer drive, how will they get around? Only with 6 hours a day, on 4 days to do a weeks worth of travel? Or with true freedom to move.
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